


A Good Night's Sleep

by faceplantmay



Series: The Mundane Adventures of Angus McDonald [3]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, Found Family, Friendship, M/M, Multi, these good good kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 17:13:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11673540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faceplantmay/pseuds/faceplantmay
Summary: After a trying adventure turns the moods of the Tres Horny Boys southward, it's up to Carey to get to the root of the problem.Well, it's not really up to her, she just wanted to get involved.And bring Angus along for the ride.





	A Good Night's Sleep

Magnus' bruises were still swollen and purple around his face and chest, even three days after the mission back in Wave Echo Cave where the Director had sent Magnus, Merle, and Taako to do some extra recon on a situation she feared may have started there, which she was very insistent had _nothing_ to do with any of the questions they seemed to ask. And, for the three of them, after everything they seemed to put up with and do without any forethought, they actually asked a lot this time. Taako, in particular, was extra inquisitive and almost too short with their boss for Magnus' comfort, but with the secrets that seemed to come with the job and how they seemed to keep piling on with no reveals, he couldn't put it past him.

If he were honest, Magnus was getting pretty fed up with being in the dark, too.

He looked up at the ceiling, his head thrown back over the edge of the couch in the common room of their private dormitory. There was a particular bruise on the crook of his neck that was hit in just the wrong place on the soft backing of the furniture, but it was better than the alternative of laying down and chancing a whole section of his body being sore, instead of comfortable, on his bed. For being the human shield, people did seem to forget he was still a flesh body, despite how many hits he could take. He sighed deeply, rubbing a calloused hand down the leather skin that was his face. _That hurt._

With his hand covering his eyes, he couldn't see, or seem to hear, Carey tip-toeing into his space. She had managed to jimmy open the door to the Tres Horny Boy's quarters, and sneak in without so much as a squeaky floorboard giving her away. Not even thirty minutes prior, she had come across a very dour looking Taako sitting outside in the quad of the moon base, absently casting spells at a tree that towered over him. His legs were draped over a very stiff Angus' lap, who seemed to be more of a prop than a comfort for the elf, but there was a quiet vibration that radiated off of the boy. Little Angus McDonald's cheeks were flushed red, and Carey realized it wasn't because he was being used as a prop, but because he was being used as an aide. Out of all of the people on the moon base, Taako chose this child to go to, and Angus was absolutely in love with being trusted this way. But that must mean Taako needed a reason to trust him. So something must have happened on the mission. Which meant, if Taako was in this shape, Magnus must be worse off. 

And, unfortunately, Carey Fangbattle was right. From the distance between the front door and the couch, she could see the swelling on Magnus' shoulders, exposed by his tank top shirt that he had stripped down to. His dark skin was punctured with blues and somber hues of purple, which were much too vibrant to be healing, especially when compared to the green and yellowing bruises on his forearms. She had seen enough of him after training, after a fight, after reconnaissance, to know what a healing Magnus looked like, and this was not it.

"Need something, Care?" 

Carey smiled at the start from being caught, and realized, if she had not wanted to be noticed, she wouldn't have been noticed. Standing flush to the wall, Carey leaned back and posed in the coolest fashion she could manage, balancing on her tail to cross her arms and legs, _swag style._ Magnus leaned further backwards, his hair a floppy mess as it dangled parallel to the floor, and made direct eye contact with his friend who's smile faltered a bit at his face. His goatee had gotten longer, and there was a new cut that spread from his cheek to the bottom of his lip. He had been home for three days, why hadn't he groomed? There was a lull in messages from the Director, so it wasn't like he didn't have the time off. Also, where the fuck was Merle?

"Carey?"

"'Sup, dude."

"Obviously, not much. But I think you can see that. Didja need something?" With a full grunted toss, Magnus turned over onto his front half, crunching his body awkwardly into the stuffing of the couch, propping himself up on his arms, chin in hand, smile plastered and forced. This was not missed by Carey, and he knew that. 

"One, where the fuck is Merle?"

"One, he said he got permission to go down below for some personal time. He's been needing a breather."

Carey inhaled sharply, and scrunched her nose up in frustration. This was going to be like pulling teeth; it wasn't that Magnus was particularly guarded, he just liked to be difficult sometimes. And this seemed to be one of those times. She untangled her limbs and walked towards the center of the room where the couch and other chairs were, circled around the Bureau provided coffee table made of a mock black opal. If he wanted to be a problem child, she knew just how to get back at him. Gracefully, she sat herself in the seat directly across from where Magnus was, throwing her legs comfortably over the armrest and snuggling down into the soft cushions.

"Ahh _hh_ , okay. Then that brings me to two. Why is Taako with Angus?" She used one of the strewn pillows as a prop under her back, and sighed, dramatically content with the level of satisfaction she was bringing to her body. With a quick side eye to her friend, she found him struggling to turn back over onto his butt from the rut his gut had dug him into. She suppressed a snicker. 

"I guess he needed a breather, too."

A final grunt helped the fighter flop himself over, and dejected from the effort (and partially, the embarrassment), he spread himself out the full length of the sofa. Carey hummed in her throat.

"So, I guess sitting alone," she gestured with a dismissive hand, "In your empty living room, is your breather, huh, bud?"

Magnus gave a quick "Idunnuh" with a shrug of his shoulders before crossing his arms behind his head. "They didn't really come back up to their rooms when we got back, so I guess we kind of all needed the space. Lucretia wasn't exactly thrilled when we came back with almost zilch and nada." He sighed and rolled over onto his side to face her. "She sent us on this wackass mission where our chance of success was pretty much negative zero-"

"There's no such thing as negative zero, Mag."

"-And wasn't at all over the moon-"

"We can't be _over_ something we're already _on_."

"-When she found out that we sort of got into our own little argument on the way back up here."

Oh, well, that was new. For the time Carey had known Magnus, Merle, and Taako, there had never really been any in-fighting, just petty squabbles that felt familial more than aggressive. If she were to pry, however, Carey worried she would never get the full story from Magnus, and was probably already not going to get much without some goading. From the look on his face, he was pretty torn up about their fight, and it bothered her to think that it may be damaging to their friendship, as well as their professional work environment. It was obvious that Magnus was also worried about this possibility. 

"It's just, Taako is so over being kept out of the loop. And Merle is tired of Taako being so quick to jump the gun. Taako practically jumped down the Director's throat before we left, and while we looking down in Wave Echo Cave looking for god knows what the fuck ever, he was so pissed off it basically threw off the whole mission. We were possibly looking for nothing, at this point!" He threw his legs up in frustration and slammed them back down on the arm of the couch. "So they fought the whole time we were planet side to the point where I felt like one wrong word would have ended up a spell blasted mess because I'm the only fucking one without magic and they can't keep themselves from shooting off when they're not thinking straight and Carey, I swear to god, I think they don't think before acting!"

Carey swallowed a laugh because that was pretty much what everyone on the base thought about their whole group.

"Badabing, badaboom, I'm pulling an angry Merle Highchurch off of Taako, and his stupid tree arm scratched my face," he pointed to the cut that she noticed earlier, and for some reason, that made her feel worse about his situation. "So when we got back, we reported that we didn't find what the Director sent us to find, which upset her, which upset Taako, which upset Merle, and so here we are."

"What about the bruises?"

Magnus gingerly touched his cheeks and laughed gently. "Basic fighting battle wounds. We came across some gerblins. Notta big deal. They just haven't seemed to heal yet."

"Yeah. So, uh, why was Merle climbing Taako?"

"To get him to read his lips better."

Magnus made eye contact with Carey, who had been just absently looking around the room while he told his story, and he couldn't stop himself from cracking a smile, which led to the both of them breaking into giggles. The whole situation sounded absolutely ridiculous and absolutely was. 

"Actually, Mango, it was because he said it would make it easier to hear him better, since my big ears seemed to be useless."

Magnus and Carey bolted up from their seats with a start and watched as Taako came in the room with Angus in tow. Not particularly the sheepish type, Taako seemed to be deflated from the whole situation and joined Magnus on the couch with a full bodied flop. Magnus patted his lap and Angus climbed up -after throwing a tentative glance at Taako, who seemed disinterested, and Carey, who gave a noncommittal shrug- sitting half on his legs and half on the couch arm. The child threw his arms around Magnus' throat in a hug, and Taako knocked his knee against the fighter's. 

"'Msorry, Mang, I got too frustrated with the job and took it out on you all." Taako set his chin in his hand and puffed out a bit of breath. "I'll cast the shit out of you though if you try to hug me. And this is also the only apology you'll get out of me. I'll give Merle his when he comes home. I shouldn't have been a shit, I'm just tired of not knowing whether or not we're the bad guys. I don't mind being a bad guy, I just need to know if I am! That requires a whole different set of digs, you know?" Magnus cracked a smile through Angus' arms at Carey, who gave a subtle thumbs up, and stood from her chair. 

"Imma just take Angus here for a scoosh, we'll be back in a second, boys." With that, Carey plucked Angus from Magnus' lap and carried him out of the living space, despite his protests that he could, in fact, walk on his own. Taako bounced his leg back and forth between the seat and his buddy's body, getting more and more aggressive with the strikes against Magnus' calves. Gently, Magnus put his hand on Taako's knee, giving it a soft squeeze before patting it a couple of times. There was a ticking from a clock somewhere in the dorm, but neither of them was sure who owned one. The space had a strange, sterile smell that masked the musk of shoes that were tossed before two of the bedroom doors, and it had never permeated before this moment. It was funny, but neither of them had noticed how mix matched the furniture in their living quarters actually was. Everything was of a similar cut, color, or style, but none of it actually went together, and that just seemed to add to the absurdity of the space. The giant hole in the bottom of the room, covered by a rug that was strung together from the scraps of other rugs that Angus had found around the base and planet side barely covered the glass that overlooked the planet below, which was just enough to startle the elf every time he looked at it. Scratches on the floor led to where Magnus' room was from how often he dragged his weapons behind him when he got too sleepy to carry them to bed, and the smell of earth and a small mound of dirt fell out of the crack underneath Merle's door, near where his shoes usually went. Splashes of soot and ash framed Taako's door from where Angus' spells would go wrong, but would always be corrected before they got too out of control. Magnus' small fish bowl, magicked to never spill a drop of the dear fish Steven's water, lolled around the dipped living space like a hamster in a ball. 

"You'll apologize to Merle when he gets home, huh?" Turning his eyes away from his death defying pet, Magnus smiled at Taako, who seemed to have come to the same realization as he did, just as Carey kicked open the door, two mugs in her hands, Angus following behind her with another two steaming cups. 

"We snuck into the kitchen and Angus used his chubby human baby cheeks to win us some hot chocolate, extra whipped cream for Magnus and Angus, skimmed milk for Taako, and for me, sprinkles on top!" Face the color of pink tourmaline, Angus handed Taako his mug, with a giant middle finger plastered on the sides. The elf scooched over for the boy who didn't miss a beat at crawling between the two men, his own mug a Caleb Cleveland caricature embossed and very worn down. Carey passed Magnus a chipped mug that matched her own fully formed cup, and they clicked them together in a toast. Sitting at the feet of the other three, she watched as Steven the fish rolled around the couch, doing laps around the four of them as they listened to each other tell stories until Angus started to nod off, leaning on the fighter's shoulders, eventually dropping the emptied mug to the floor with a clang as he slipped off deeply to sleep. Taako ran a hand through the child's hair, shooting a glare at the grinning pair of friends who watched the elf show even the slightest bit of affection to a boy who he often mocked. With a yawn, Carey stood up from the floor, putting her hands on the small of her back, right above her tail, and cracking her spine just slightly; Taako nodded towards the child and she smiled, scooping him up and pecking Magnus on the crown of his head before waving with her fingers a good night to the wizard, who two fingered waved back. 

Almost in unison, the two of them stood up, stretching and yawning in their own ways. With no prompt, Magnus started to giggle, full of bubbles and warmth, that slowly spread to Taako until they doubled over in laughter. For the first night in almost three days, Magnus wouldn't be sleeping on the couch, alone in their big dormitory and Taako wouldn't be scrunched up in Angus' dorm on the floor with only a blanket and a pillow. Soon, Merle would be back, and Taako knew he would have to apologize for flying off of the handle, but until then, Magnus was just glad his brother was feeling better. 

"G'night Mang. I'll help make a salve for your face tomorrow, you're gonna need it." Taako stood on tip toe, planting a gentle peck where Carey had previously bestowed her own kiss. Magnus smiled and clapped on Taako's shoulder as carefully as he could.

"I guess we can't all look like you, bud. G'night, Taak." 

As they walked to their separate rooms, Magnus waited until he saw Taako's door close before he shut his own. From Merle's room, he could hear the clock tick, and fell asleep knowing soon everyone would be home.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first major fandom fic, so please be gentle. You can find me and my lame TAZ meta posts at faceplantmay.tumblr.com. I'll probably take a gamble and try to write something better and not so slap dashed later for other family fun because I'm always a slut for found family tropes.


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